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Sunday 24 May 2020 13:02
Number 10 is facing increasing pressure to sack Dominic Cummings following reports he took a second 260-mile trip to Durham during the coronavirus lockdown – while telling the country to stay home where possible.
Downing Street has defended the prime minister’s special adviser, who insists his actions were “reasonable and legal”.
However despite many Conservative politicians showing support for Mr Cummings, several Tory MPs have broken rank to join Steve Baker MP in calling for his resignation in light of the new reports.
Prue Leith has defended Dominic Cummings on Twitter, saying: “How about a bit of kindness and tolerance.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has told Sky News it will be a “failure of leadership and a failure of judgement” if prime minister Boris Johnson does not as Dominic Cummings to resign.
He says the PM should appear before the press at today’s daily coronavirus briefing.
Mr Cummings was seen in television footage arriving in Downing Street, PA reports.
Tom Richell has put together this video of transport secretary
Grant Shapps appearing on the The Andrew Marr Show this morning:
Here are our associate editor Sean O’Grady‘s thoughts on the situation…
Dominic Cummings left his home in north London with his wife and son shortly after 11am today,
Press Association reports.
After one journalist asked if he had returned to Durham in April, Mr Cummings said: “No, I did not.”
Mr Cummings, who was wearing a lanyard with an ID card, was carrying a note pad and what appeared to be a black bin bag.
The family then got in the car and drove away.
Craig Whittaker, Conservative MP for Calder Valley, becomes the seventh Tory MP to back calls for Cummings to resign, saying his position is now “untenable”.
William Wragg has retweeted Steve Baker’s tweet calling for Cummings to go.
Caroline Nokes, Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North, becomes the sixth.
She said: “It is not acceptable for the prime minister not to come to the press conference today and answer the questions what happened, and what did he know about it?”
She said: “Despite having eight weeks to get their story straight, the excuses are just not credible and do not stack up.
“A mounting rebellion of Tory MPs have joined calls for Dominic Cummings to go. They understand the lasting damage this is doing to public confidence in the Tory Government and its Covid-19 response.
“The longer Mr Cummings stays in place, the more he will undermine the Tory Government’s credibility and the more people will question the Prime Minister’s judgment.
“The SNP will continue to press for a Cabinet Office inquiry into the breaking of the rules and the Downing Street cover-up, which left the public in the dark for so long.
PA
Marr asks if there is in effect “a new Cummings clause” that you can drive wherever you like to any part of the country to self-isolate.
Shapps replies: “The key points have always been that people remain locked down.”
He says the guidance acknowledges the measures may not all be possible and the key thing is “to not keep moving around”.
Asked about officers from Durham Constabulary speaking to Dominic Cummings and his family, Shapps says: “The father contacted the police, not the other way around, and it was an unrelated matter about security.”
Asked how he knows Cummings did not take a second trip up to Durham, Shapps says he knows because Number 10 and Cummings each put out a statement.
Shapps says to Marr: “I’m afraid I’ve read what you’ve read in the papers. Don’t put the words into my mouth.”
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